Ethiopian Democratic League

Last updated

The Ethiopian Democratic League is a political party in Ethiopia. In the 2005 general election, the party was part of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, which won 109 out of 527 seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives. Its leader is Chekol Getahun. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Ethiopia</span> Activities associated with the governance of Ethiopia

The politics of Ethiopia are the activities associated with the governance of Ethiopia. The government is structured as a federal parliamentary republic with both a President and Prime Minister. The legislature is multicameral, with a house of representatives and a council. The term politics of Ethiopia mainly relates to the political activities in Ethiopia after the late 20th century when democratization took place in the nation. The current political structure of Ethiopia was formed after the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) overthrew dictator President Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. A general election was held in June 1994 and Ethiopia has maintained a multiparty political environment till today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oromo people</span> East Cushitic ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa

The Oromo are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya. They speak the Oromo language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia. According to the last Ethiopian census of 2007, the Oromo numbered 25,488,344 people or 34.5% of the Ethiopian population. Recent estimates have the Oromo compromising 35.8% of the estimated 116,000,000 Ethiopian population placing Oromos at a population of 41,000,000

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopia</span> Country in the Horn of Africa

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east and southeast, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of 1,112,000 square kilometres. As of 2023, it is home to around 126.5 million inhabitants, making it the 13th-most populous country in the world, the 2nd-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populated landlocked country on Earth. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meles Zenawi</span> Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2012

Meles Zenawi Asres was an Ethiopian soldier and politician who served as President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and then Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his death in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somali Region</span> Regional state in eastern Ethiopia

The Somali Region, also known as Soomaali Galbeed and officially the Somali Regional State, is a regional state in eastern Ethiopia. Its territory is the largest after Oromia Region. The regional state borders the Ethiopian regions of Afar and Oromia and the chartered city Dire Dawa to the west, as well as Djibouti to the north, Somalia to the northeast, east and south; and Kenya to the southwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derg</span> 1974–1987 ruling military junta of Ethiopia

The Derg, officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military dictatorship that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership or junta formally "civilianized" the administration but stayed in power until 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tigray People's Liberation Front</span> Left-wing nationalist political party in Ethiopia

The Tigray People's Liberation Front, also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government from May 2021 until its removal from the list in March 2023. In older texts and Amharic publications, it is known as Woyane or Wayane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Ethiopia</span> Political elections for public offices in Ethiopia

Under the current constitution, Ethiopia conducts local, regional, and federal elections. At the federal level, Ethiopia elects a legislature. The Federal Parliamentary Assembly has two chambers: the House of People's Representatives with not more than 550 members as per the constitution but actually nearly 547 members, elected for five-year terms in single-seat constituencies; and the Council of the Federation with 117 members, one each from the 22 minority nationalities, and one from each professional sector of its remaining nationalities, designated by the regional councils, which may elect them themselves or through popular elections.

Badme is a town in Gash-Barka region of Eritrea. Control of the town was at the centre of the Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict, which lasted from the beginning of the Eritrean–Ethiopian War, in 1998, to the signing of a joint statement at the Eritrea–Ethiopia summit in 2018, twenty years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eritrean–Ethiopian War</span> 1998–2000 international conflict

The Eritrean–Ethiopian War, also known as the Badme War, was a major armed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea that took place from May 1998 to June 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 Ethiopian general election</span>

General elections were held in Ethiopia on 15 May 2005, for seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives and four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this election would be proof that more democracy would come in this multi-ethnic nation; international elections observers from the European Union (EU) and the U.S.-based Carter Center were present to observe the results. This election succeeded in attracting about 90% of the registered voters to the polls. A government ban on protests was imposed throughout the election period.

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy, commonly referred to by its English abbreviation CUD, or occasionally CDU, was a coalition of four existing political parties of Ethiopia which combined to compete for seats in the Ethiopian General Elections held on May 15, 2005, and around the end of that year, became a full-fledged political party. Its leader was Hailu Shawul and the political party was dissolved in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodo</span> City in South Ethiopia Regional State, Ethiopia

Sodo or Wolaita Sodo or is a city in south Ethiopia. The City is a political and administrative center of the Wolaita Zone and South Ethiopia Regional State. It has a latitude and longitude of 6°54′N37°45′E with an elevation between 1,600 and 2,100 metres above sea level. It was part of the former Sodo woreda which included Sodo Zuria which completely surrounds it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hailemariam Desalegn</span> Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018

Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe is an Ethiopian politician who served as prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. He also previously served as deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi from 2010 to 2012. After Meles' death in August 2012, Hailemariam succeeded him as prime minister, initially in an acting capacity. He was then elected as the chair of the EPRDF, the ruling party, on 15 September 2012. Hailemariam also served as the chairperson of the African Union from 2013 to 2014.

The 2005 Ethiopian general election violence, known generally as the Ethiopian police massacre, refers to the killing of civilians by government forces during June and November 2005 which led to the deaths of 193 protesters and injury of 763 others, mostly in the capital Addis Ababa, following the May 2005 elections in Ethiopia. More than 30,000 people were detained by security forces following the election, most released in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian Democratic Party</span> Political party in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Democratic Party is a political party in Ethiopia. The result of no less than five mergers of liberal and conservative liberal opposition parties, it could trace its roots to the Ethiopian Democratic Union, which mounted armed monarchist resistance to the Derg in the immediate aftermath of the overthrow of Haile Selassie I. In the legislative elections held on 15 May 2005, the United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin, as it was then known, was part of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, that won 52 out of 527 seats in the Council of People's Representatives. It won no seats in the 2010 elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian nationalism</span> Political ideology

Ethiopian nationalism, also referred to as Ethiopianism or Ethiopianness, according to its proponents, asserts that Ethiopians are a single nation, and promotes the social equality of all component ethnic groups. Ethiopian people as a whole regardless of ethnicity constitute sovereignty as one polity. Ethiopian nationalism is a type of civic nationalism in that it is multi-ethnic in nature, and promotes multiculturalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Ethiopian general election</span>

The 2021 Ethiopian general election to elect members of the House of Peoples' Representatives was held on 21 June 2021 and 30 September 2021. Regional elections were also held on those dates.

The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.

References

  1. Eyoh, Dickson (2005-10-24). Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century African History (1 ed.). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203986578. ISBN   978-0-203-98657-8.